Aviation News
- Guangdong News
Date: 24-Jul-2007 Sources: (Shenzhen Daily)
SHENZHEN-BASED Jade Cargo International has effectively grounded two of its four B747 freighters as a shortage of pilots clamps down on operations.
The carrier, a joint venture between Shenzhen Airlines, Lufthansa cargo and a German investment house, has been forced to postpone the planned expansion of its services to Europe and the launch of services to the United States.
'To run a 747 aircraft for 16 hours a day, an airline needs 18 or 19 pilots to be on the safe side,'Reto Hunziker, Jade executive vice president of sales and marketing, told reporters. He said a pilot was allowed to fly 90 hours a week, which was just four flights to Europe.
Jade Cargo needs up to 64 more pilots, but cannot find any in China and Chinese regulations make hiring foreign pilots difficult and expensive. 'We do not have a single Chinese pilot. Chinese airlines charge US$250,000 to release a pilot.'
The all-cargo airline has no time to waste as its fifth 747-400F will be delivered next month, and the sixth arrives in January. Hunziker is confident the carrier will be able to begin flights to the United States on August 1 and increase its two services a week to Amsterdam via Shanghai to three soon after.
But the ramifications of Jade's pilot shortage go further than the airline. The carrier is based at Bao'an International Airport that is served by the International Cargo Center Shenzhen (ICCS), a joint venture between Lufthansa Cargo and Shenzhen Airport.
ICCS general manager Frank Braeuer said the terminal's growth in 2007 would have doubled had Jade been flying at full strength.
The ICCS has a current capacity of 150,000 tons and will be expanding to 400,000 tons. Braeuer said he was expecting an average growth of 35 to 40 percent a year until 2010.
Sponsor Results:
